KEENE-JAFFREY-PETERBOROUGH DISTRICT. The Keene-Jaffrey-Peterborough district shall consist of the city of Keene and the towns of Stoddard, Westmoreland, Surry, Gilsum, Sullivan, Nelson, Roxbury, Marlow, Swanzey, Marlborough, Winchester, Richmond, Hinsdale, Walpole, Alstead, Troy, and Chesterfield in Cheshire county, and the towns of Peterborough, Hancock, Greenville, Greenfield, New Ipswich, Temple, and Sharon in Hillsborough county and the towns of Jaffrey, Dublin, Fitzwilliam, and Rindge in Cheshire county. The district court for the district shall be located in Jaffrey or Peterborough, holding sessions regularly therein and elsewhere in the district as justice may require. The name of the court shall be Jaffrey-Peterborough District Court.

They're discussing the possibility of moving only the family court cases or something like that. Apparently that amounts to about half of their cases. It would handle divorces, domestic violence cases, custody, etc. It's resulting in high drama.

Moving/closing the court won't result in fewer cases being heard. It will only mean that the court and its mindless drones are further removed from the local people they "serve", and less susceptible to social pressure. It will mean more inconvenience and mileage for the local people summoned to appear (and afraid to not comply).

Closing a court would be a good thing if the cases won't be heard elsewhere. But they will, and this isn't an improvement.

It's just about consolidation. They spent too much money in Jaffrey, apparently, and are now trying to save $52k a year in rent for a building in Keene.

And as was, surprisingly, pointed out at the council meeting, they'll save it by passing ten times or more of that sum onto the subjects in the form of travel costs, lost time from work, absence of pro bono, and more, no doubt, that I haven't thought of yet.